


Alive

by originoflove



Category: Kpop - Fandom, Shinhwa
Genre: Alternate Universe - Police, Angst, Detectives, M/M, Murder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-18
Updated: 2017-08-08
Packaged: 2018-09-18 10:18:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 18,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9380003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/originoflove/pseuds/originoflove
Summary: Hyesung is a detective in the police force however he has been stuck doing desk work for the past couple months, mainly due to the heart break he experienced over his last partner. But now he has been assigned a new partner, Eric Mun, and there is nothing Hyesung wants less than a new partner. However they are forced to work together as a new mysterious murder case needs to be solved.





	1. Prologue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: This chapter has allusions to house break ins/intrusions and allusions to murder/violence.

“I’m home.” A man walks through his front door, into his home and kisses his beautiful fiancé. God was he glad to be home.  
“How was your day darling?” the woman asks, hugging him and resting her head on his chest.  
The man sighs. “Stressful.” He smiles tiredly, rubbing her back. “How was yours? How did it go with that new client?”  
“It was fine; we’ve agreed to take his case.” She squeezes him tightly before going to pick up a take away menu from the table. “Thought we’d get pizza tonight?” she suggests as the man takes off his coat and shoes.  
“Sounds great.” He rubs his head. He was so lucky to have found the love of his life and it was days like this that reminded him of that. From start of that day things had gone wrong. First his train was cancelled, then he was sat next to worst smelling person ever on the bus replacement service, then when he got to work his business partner was being a complete arsehole and then the clients wanted to arrange an emergency meeting so then he rushed to buy lunch and realised he had forgotten his wallet so he had no time to eat and then the clients were being arseholes and then on the train home some weirdo kept staring at him…he really reminded him of someone.  
“Pizzas are on their way.” His fiancé snapped out of his memories.  
“Great.” He smiled. He really was so lucky he had her. 

Soon after they had eaten the couple decided to go to bed, too exhausted to do anything but sleep. Their house wasn’t that big, although they could probably afford bigger, they liked their house, it was cosy. And anyway, the less money they wasted on a new house, the more they would have for their wedding and future children. The man smiled at the prospect of a beautiful family, he wanted three children, didn’t care about what gender they were. And a dog, he’d love a dog, a friendly one that the kids would play with. This was the reason that he kept working so hard, he was working for this future. 

The woman woke up with a start. What was that? Had she heard something or was she dreaming? She looked around to wake up her fiancé but he wasn’t there. Her heart raced. She was about to call out for him but stopped herself. What if someone has broken in? But where was her fiancé, surely he made the noise. She hesitated and looked around the room for a weapon, nothing. Her phone was downstairs too. She edged out of bed and tip toed to the door. She paused, listening. It was silent. Slowly she opened the door and peered out. It was dark but she daren’t turn on the light. She made her way to the end of the hallway, her heart racing. What unnerved most was the silence, why was it so silent? And what was that sound? Had her fiancé fell? Now very concerned she hurried as quietly as possible down the stairs and first went into the kitchen. There was no-one there. Then she made her way to the lounge. She stepped up to the door and pushed it open and stepped in and looked around. It was dark. She turned on the light. She screamed.


	2. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: mentions of murder and stabbing.

Detective Sergeant Shin Hyesung trudged up some stairs to his office, feeling barely awake, the pouring rain not helping to lighten his mood. He hadn’t slept well in months and, to be honest, it had really taken its toll on him, both physically and mentally.  
The office was pretty busy; in fact, he hadn’t seen it this busy in ages. Something big had obviously happened. He hoped he wouldn’t be too disturbed by it. He sighed. He needed coffee.  
Dongwan was standing by the coffee machine when Hyesung got to it. Dongwan was probably the best friend Hyesung had at the station, but they weren’t particularly close. He didn’t even really know what Dongwan’s job was, why would he need to?  
“Morning.” Dongwan chirped as he saw Hyesung.  
Hyesung grunted back a response, it being a bit early to start using his voice box.  
“Busy isn’t it.” Dongwan continued the conversation, not caring about the lack of response as Hyesung tried to get the coffee machine to work. “Apparently they’ve had some big breakthrough on the gang situation they’ve been working on.”  
Hyesung felt relieved; he won’t have to get involved.  
“Oh and did you see, your new partner has arrived.” Hyesung froze. Shit. “He’s been standing by your desk for about twenty minutes now.”  
He’d forgotten his new partner would be starting this week. Not that that would change much, it’d just mean that there would be two of them rather than one resigned to office work.  
“Maybe you’ll get to work on a proper case again now.” Dongwan said, watching Hyesung closely. “Maybe now you’ll finally get over him.”  
Hyesung looked at Dongwan, accusation in his eyes. What did he mean by that? Hyesung left Dongwan standing there, not bothering to say good bye. He could feel his cheeks starting to heat up and his heart start to pound. How the fuck did Dongwan know? He only told the Superintendent. Had everyone known? Also what does he mean proper case. He’d still been working on cases; he was still doing his job.  
Hyesung was deep in thought so didn’t notice the man leaning against his desk until he was just a couple of feet away. He froze when he saw him. He was about Hyesung’s age and looking way too cheery for this time in the morning. Hyesung really wasn’t in the mood to deal with this. Completely ignoring the man, he continued towards his desk. How dare he just loiter by his desk like that.  
“Hello, you must be Hyesung. I’m your new partner.” The man smiled friendlily, holding out his hand as soon as he saw Hyesung approach. Hyesung ignored him, continuing to sit down at his desk and arrange his papers making sure nothing had been displaced by this man practically sitting on his desk. He knew he was being rude to his new partner but just didn’t care.  
Oddly the man didn’t look particularly bothered about Hyesung ignoring him. His smile persisted and he continued to hold out his hand.  
“Hi, I’m your new partner.” He repeated, slightly louder this time.  
Hyesung started checking his emails. The man stepped slightly closer, holding his hand out in a way that blocked Hyesung’s view of his computer screen. Hyesung leant back away from the hand and glared at the man. The man glared right back, a calm smile on his face.  
“Hyesung, are you really planning on starting our working relationship like this?” The man said.  
“DS Shin please.” Hyesung stated flatly.  
“What?” the man asked.  
“Please call me DS Shin, not Hyesung.” He turned back to his computer.  
The man thought for a moment before shrugging.  
“It’s nice to meet you, I’m Eric.” Eric grinned, holding his hand out again. Hyesung sighed.  
“Can I see your ID?” Hyesung then said. Eric’s smile faltered for a second and he seemed to be slightly confused.  
“Why?”  
“I want to look at it. I’ll give it straight back.”  
Eric contemplated for another second before handing it over. Hyesung was as good as his word and handed it back immediately after briefly glancing at it.  
“Okay DS Mun, you should be aware of something. I am not an easy person to work with right now. With me you’re going to be chained to desk work for the foreseeable future. I don’t understand why they bothered giving me a partner, I don’t need one right now. If I were you, I’d ask to be given a new partner. But if you choose to stay, then I ask you for one thing.” He leant forward. “Shut up.” Hyesung spat before turning back to his computer. One year ago he wouldn’t dare talk to someone like that.  
Eric’s expression grew serious as Hyesung spoke. He was about to say something back when-  
“DS Shin, the Superintendent wants to talk to you. Says bring your partner along.” Someone shouted across the room.  
Hyesung reluctantly got up and walked out the room. For a moment Eric just watched him go, seemingly deep in thought. Then he followed him. 

*** 

When they arrived at the Super’s office, she beckoned them in and asked them to have a seat at the two chairs placed in front of her desk.  
“Morning.” she greeted, waiting for them to sit down. “How’s introductions going DS Mun?”  
“Everyone’s been very welcoming, ma’am.” Eric said.  
Hyesung glanced at him. Had he not done enough to put him off being his partner or was he just one of those people?  
“And you DS Shin, how’s your first impression of your new partner?”  
“We’re still getting to know each other, ma’am.” Hyesung said after a pause.  
“Of course, it’ll take time.” The Super’ responded. “But I’m afraid I haven’t got such a fun bonding activity for you. There was a murder last night.” She took a folder off the pile on her desk and dropped it down in front of Hyesung. Hyesung frowned. “It was a man, 27 years old. It looks like he was struck on the head, causing him to lose consciousness before being stabbed repeatedly in the chest.” Eric picked up the folder and began looking through it whilst Hyesung tried to work out what the Super’ was saying. A murder case? Does this mean he’s being put back into the field? He can’t go back, it’s too soon.  
“Was there anyone in the house with him?” Eric asked.  
“Yes, his fiancé. She’s the one who called the police.”  
“Any finger prints or DNA at the scene that might be suspicious?” Eric continued to question.  
“Well there is something strange about this case. On the body, in one of the stab wounds, a sweet wrapper had been placed.”  
Both men looked confused.  
“A sweet wrapper?” Eric repeated. The Super’ nodded. “Well did it get there by accident?”  
“We don’t know. Probably. But the fiancé keeps going on about it and there has been a partial finger print found on it which we are currently trying to match. Some are a bit concerned that this looks like some sort of signature left by the killer meaning this could be the start of a series of murders. Of course that may be pushing it a bit, this is only one murder.”  
“Was there any sign of a break in?” Eric asked.  
The Super’ shook her head.  
“It’ll quite probably end up that the fiancé did it however no murder weapon has been found and we have witness accounts from the neighbours of her screaming the house down at 4 in the morning, so either she didn’t do it or she’s a much better criminal than she seems.”  
The room was silent for a moment.  
“Has she been formally interviewed yet?”  
“No, that’s what I’d like you to do first, get a clearer idea of what she’s talking about with the sweet wrapper. Even if she’s making it up, we have to find out why. However, she seems pretty distraught so go easy on her.” The Super’ said before dismissing them.  
“Thank you, ma’am.” Eric said, getting up to walk out but pausing as he saw Hyesung still sitting down. The Super’ noticed too.  
“Could you give us just a moment DS Mun?” she said. He hesitated a moment longer before leaving.  
“I can’t be put on a case.” Hyesung said as soon as Eric was gone. “I can’t go out into the field yet, please ma’am- “  
“DS Shin.” She interrupted. “I know you’ve had your trouble but it’s been six months since what happened. I know it’s difficult for you but you have been lucky.” Hyesung opened his mouth to protest but she continued. “And I have been more than generous. Speaking frankly your situation did not actually warrant any special action. No one died, he just left. I know that affected you a lot and your mental health was compromised. However, after your last check-up it has become evident you are steadily getting worse and not better and since you won’t take medication they actually advised that the best thing is to get you away from your desk.”  
Hyesung was surprised at this information, how could he be getting worse? And why hadn’t he been told about it?  
“We don’t have enough staffing right now therefore you and DS Mun are the only ones with appropriate training available to investigate this. It is essential that you get yourself together right now and do your job.” Her tone was strong and authoritative.  
Hyesung cast his eyes down. She was right. But it didn’t feel like six months had past, he felt like it was yesterday.  
“I’m sorry, ma’am. I will go do my job.” He got up to leave, feeling a tiny bit humiliated. Not humiliated by the Super’, but by himself, he was being extremely unprofessional and if it’s anything Hyesung hated it was when people don’t do their jobs properly.  
Just as he reached the door he stopped and turned back to the Super’.  
“But does it have to be him?” Hyesung asked.  
“Who?” she responded.  
“That…guy, DS Mun. Ma’am, I really don’t think we’ll work well together I think- “  
“You just met, give it a chance. If that’s all DS Shin, I have work to do.” She cut him off.  
Hyesung left her office, feeling deflated. From now on he wouldn’t let his personal feelings get in the way of his job. As soon as he stepped into the hall he sighed loudly, throwing his head back. He really needed a good night’s sleep.  
“Everything okay?” a voice came from behind him, startling him. Eric was looking at him amused. That bastard, what was he looking so smug about? He knew Hyesung didn’t have any choice but to work with him didn’t he? Had he been eaves dropping? “So are we going to get along now?” Eric smirked.  
Hyesung turned and walked away from him. One last act of unprofessionalism.


	3. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: This chapter contains mild mentions of murder, violence and stalking.

Hyesung sat outside the interrogation room and read through the details of the case. There weren’t many yet, just a description of the crime scene along with pictures, including a picture of the sweet wrapper. When the Superintendent had first mentioned it he wanted to laugh. Murderers marking their murders sweet wrappers, what bullshit. But as Hyesung looked at the image it did disturb him a bit. It seemed very thoughtfully placed, as if the murderer had made that incision especially for it, right over the heart…   
“She won’t stop crying.” Eric suddenly sat down beside him, causing Hyesung to jump. “They’re saying we should wait just a few more minutes to see if she calms down a bit. Perhaps they’re being too kind to her.”   
“Her fiancé was just murdered.” Hyesung said, already annoyed by the other man’s presence.   
“Well what if she did it? There’s no sign of a break in, it’s the most logical explanation.” Eric suggested.  
“We don’t know if she did it. Innocent till proven guilty, her fiancé just died, be a little sympathetic.” Hyesung snapped. In reality he kind of agreed with Eric. They were being slightly too lenient on her, especially considering she’s the most likely suspect, but he didn’t want Eric to know this.   
“Okay.” Eric nodded after a pause. This really annoyed Hyesung. “This is quite a first case for us, huh? We just met today and now we have to solve a murder. Don’t you think we ought to get to know each other better?” Eric grinned at the other man as he ignored him, concentrating on the pictures in the file. “Let’s ask some questions.”   
“No.” Hyesung said.   
“Come on. How old are you?” Eric leant in closer. He didn’t reply to Eric’s question.   
“How long have you worked here?”   
Silence.   
“What type of food do you like?”   
No response.  
“Where- “   
“DS Mun, shut up I’m trying to read.”   
Eric sat back. “You just had to say, no need to be rude.” He mumbled.   
Hyesung felt a tiny bit of satisfaction at Eric actually doing what he said. He went back to his reading. However, just ten seconds later… crack, crack, crack.   
“Can you stop that?” Hyesung hissed.   
“Stop what?” Eric asked, acting oblivious.   
“Cracking your knuckles!”   
“Oh, sorry.” Eric looked down at his hands before tucking them into his pockets.  
Hyesung couldn’t believe he’d been partnered with this guy. They were literally the most incompatible partnership possible. 

*** 

After another twenty minutes of Eric fidgeting and Hyesung trying not to shout at him, they were finally told to come in to interview the woman.   
The minute Hyesung walked in the room, he could tell why they were being very sympathetic towards her: she looked totally and utterly distraught. Her face was deathly pale; her lips were severally chapped and white; her face was still glistening with tears. Hyesung offered her a small smile before sitting down and stating their names for the record.   
“Miss Kim, we’re here just to ask you some questions so we can understand what happened last night.” Hyesung started. “Please answer them as best you are able to.”   
The woman nodded.   
“Can you begin by telling us how you came to find your fiancé’s body?”   
“I’ve already been asked this.” She said, her voice croaky and hoarse.   
“Um yes, but if you could please tell us again so it can go on the record.” Hyesung said, trying to keep his voice soft. Eric stayed silent, sitting beside him. The woman nodded.   
“I was woken up by a loud noise, I think.”   
“Can you tell us what kind of noise?” Hyesung interrupted.   
“I… I don’t know, I don’t remember.” She stuttered slightly.   
“You can’t remember?” Eric suddenly spoke, his tone blunt. The woman looked startled. Was he trying to scare the poor woman?   
“That’s okay.” Hyesung continued. “So you were woken up and…”   
“Um well I…” she seemed confused. “I went downstairs.”   
“You went downstairs ‘cause you heard a ‘noise’?” Eric questioned, his voice not even trying to mirror Hyesung’s soft and calm tone. Hyesung noticed the woman was becoming flustered.   
“Miss Kim, what my colleague means is, were you not perhaps hesitant to go downstairs?” Hyesung tried to rectify Eric’s clumsy words, whilst subtly kicking him under the table. Eric subtly kicked back.   
“Um I don’t remember.” Her voice was growing weaker.   
“It’s okay, take your time.”   
She took a couple of deep breathes before continuing.   
“I woke up and I saw the bed was empty, I was worried someone had broken in or that…he had hurt himself.” Tears were starting to stream. “And my phone was downstairs so I didn’t know what to do.”   
“What did you do when you got downstairs?”   
“I checked the kitchen but he wasn’t there so I checked the sitting room and-and…” She was sobbing loudly now.   
“And this is when you found him?”   
She nodded.   
“How long was it until you made your phone call to the police after you found him?” Hyesung questioned.   
“Um I don’t know.” She blew her nose loudly.   
“Okay. Well just a few more questions. We understand that you have a theory about the sweet wrapper that was found?” The woman was sobbing very loudly.   
“Would you like five minutes?” Hyesung asked. The woman nodded and was then guided out of the room by an officer. Hyesung paused the recording.  
“Why are you being an arsehole?” Hyesung turned to glare at Eric who looked surprised to be questioned in this way.   
“Does the ‘crying-helpless-woman’ thing work on you?” Eric retorted.   
“The woman is heartbroken, her fiancé was just murdered and now she has to come in police questioning, how would you expect her to react?”   
“Oh come off it, are you actually a detective? What if it was her that did it? Can’t you see you’re being played?”   
“Innocent till proven guilty!”   
“I know! But all the evidence we have so far points to her, it’s only a matter of time till they find the murder weapon then we’ll know. I’m sure we’ve both worked on loads of cases just like this, it’s almost always the partner. We need to treat her like any other suspect.”   
“This feels different.” Hyesung muttered, turning away from the other man.

***

Ten minutes later Miss Kim was brought back into the room, seeming to have calmed down and Hyesung repeated his previous question.   
“When we were in school” she began. “there was a boy who was obsessed with my fiancé, I mean he was my boyfriend back then but um…”  
“How old would you have been?” Hyesung asked.   
“I don’t know, fifteen or sixteen.”  
“Okay, please continue.”  
“Um… the boy would follow him everywhere but wouldn’t speak to him, just watched. It was funny at first but he just wouldn’t stop following him, most nights he’d follow him home. Finally, we called the police and I’m not sure what happened to him …” her eyes were hazy. “He would always eat these sweets, I don’t know where he got them, I’d never seen them before, but he would leave the wrappers in my fiancé’s bag. Everyday. We didn’t even know how and when he put them in there. It was just so weird. He did it.” The more she talked about it the angrier she seemed to get.   
“Did this boy ever seem violent or threatening?” Hyesung asked. The woman hesitated a moment before shaking her head.   
“So you think that the boy who had a crush on your fiancé in school, over ten years ago, decided to track him down and murder him?” Eric said in disbelief. The woman looked shocked at the accusation in his voice.   
“What are you saying?” she hissed.  
“Just seems like quite an elaborate story.” Eric shrugged.  
“I did not kill him!” she was furious. “He’s my soul mate, we’ve known each other since we were kids. How dare you.” She yelled at Eric whilst Eric’s expression didn’t change.   
“Knowing someone that long can be stressful. Marrying someone you’ve known that long even more so.” Eric’s stated.   
“How fucking dare you accuse me-”  
“Please, Miss Kim, we’re not here to accuse you of anything. Were you aware if your fiancé had any contact with this man recently?” Hyesung tried to calm the situation.   
She shook her head.   
“Were you aware if your fiancé had any enemies or anyone who wanted to hurt him?”   
She shook her head again. She was crying again.   
“Well thank you Miss Kim, this concludes our interview.” Hyesung said before turning of the tape. 

***

As soon as Eric and Hyesung stepped out the door Hyesung grabbed Eric by his shirt and slammed him into the wall.   
“What the fuck was that?” Hyesung’s shout echoed throughout the empty corridor.   
“What the fuck was what?” Eric replied, staring Hyesung dead in the eyes.   
“I don’t know what it was like where you worked before but I will not stand for that shit here.”   
“As I recall you’re my partner not my boss.” Eric tried to push Hyesung away but he just stepped closer. “Just because I work in a different way from you doesn’t mean I’m wrong.”   
“Fuck you.” Hyesung spat and left Eric standing there.   
“You’re going to have to get used to me sometime.” He shouted after him. He didn’t, Hyesung thought. He was going straight to the Super’s office and demanding to be given a different partner. He would not work with that bastard. He could hear Eric starting to follow him. He ran.   
Hyesung arrived at the Super’s office panting but burst straight in, only knocking once.   
“DS Shin.” She exclaimed as she saw him.   
“Ma’am I-” Hyesung began.  
“Actually you’re just the person I wanted to see. Where’s DS Mun?” just at that moment Eric burst in. “Good you’re both here. There’s been a development, we’ve found a match for the finger print we found, it matches up with the name she gave us.” Both detectives looked startled.   
“You mean…the stalker from school?” Hyesung asked, suddenly forgetting about why he had rushed there. Eric was noticeably silent.   
“Was that what she told you about him? Well, yes the one she said she thought done it. Honestly this has taken us all by surprise and could make this case much more complicated that we first thought it was. I want you two to find out where his last known place of residence is as soon as possible.”   
The two detectives stood there for a second, trying to process the information.   
“I said as soon as possible.” The Super’ repeated.  
“Yes, ma’am. Right away.” Hyesung nodded and ran out the door to his desk, not waiting for Eric. Honestly he felt slightly smug. He had been right. Eric had been wrong. 

*** 

It took Hyesung only half an hour to find the suspects official address and then alert the local authorities there so that they could bring him in for questioning, if he was even there which was unlikely. After another half hour Eric finally turned up.   
“Where have you been?” Hyesung asked when he approached his desk.   
“I went to apologise to Miss Kim.” Eric said.   
“Admit you were wrong?” Hyesung chided.   
“I have no problem admitting I was wrong.” Eric’s tone was calm. “Hyesung, what’s your problem with me?”   
“DS Shin.”   
“DS Shin, what’s your problem with me?” Eric’s repeated.   
“I don’t have a problem with you.” Hyesung lied. Eric sighed, well at least he’s trying.   
Just then Hyesung’s phone rang.   
“Hello?” he answered. After a brief conversation Hyesung hung up with a sigh.   
“What is it?” Eric questioned.  
“He wasn’t in his house, it looked like he hadn’t been there for months. They’re requesting that we go there to check it out, apparently he left a lot of ‘suspicious material’ there.” He explained.   
“Where is it?”   
Hyesung told him.   
“But that’s at the other end of the country.” Eric stated. Hyesung nodded, reluctance written all over his face.   
“They booked us on flights first thing tomorrow morning.”   
“How long will we be there for?”   
“Just the day. We fly back in the evening, but bring an overnight bag just in case.”   
“Okay, is there anything else we need to take care of tonight?” Eric asked.   
“No, that’s all.”   
“Well then I’ll see you tomorrow morning. It was nice meeting you today Hyesung, sorry, DS Shin, hopefully we can work together better in the future.” Eric said before leaving without waiting for a response from Hyesung; he knew he wouldn’t get one.   
Hyesung lay his head down on the desk. How was it possible that he’d only met Eric that day, it already felt like a life time? A really long tedious life time. He thought over the day’s events. Had he been too harsh today? Probably. He didn’t know why he was like this. He wished he could change.


	4. Chapter 3

Hyesung had decided, before he went to sleep, that he’ll try to be nicer to Eric the next day. It’s true he found the guy slightly annoying, but Hyesung really hadn’t made any effort to get to know him. They were going to partners after all.   
Unfortunately, at 5.30am, being nice is the last thing on Hyesung’s mind.   
“Morning DS Shin.” Eric greeted him as he arrived at the airport. He was definitely speaking too loudly so Hyesung shot him a glare instead of saying something back. “Good morning DS Mun.” Eric muttered to himself before following Hyesung into the airport.   
Hyesung checked in and went through to the gate all without acknowledging Eric’s existence and it was only when Eric handed Hyesung a coffee did he even realise he hadn’t been besides him.   
“I got you coffee.” Eric announced, startling Hyesung as he looked up at Eric blearily before almost snatching the coffee out of Eric’s hand and gulping it down. Eric looked on, amazed and slightly concerned, as his partner downed the scalding hot liquid.   
“Thanks.” Hyesung finally muttered when he finished, finally feeling life seep back into him thanks to the caffeine.   
“Wow, it speaks.” Eric said in mock astonishment. Sarcy bastard, Hyesung thought. 

 

The flight was only two-hours long but Hyesung was planning to sleep the whole way. Unfortunately, Eric wanted to resume his ‘getting-to-know-you’ questions.  
“So are you single?” Eric asked, after various questions about his career had been, by and large, ignored. Hyesung had closed his eyes by this point but now his eyes shot open and he stared at Eric.   
“Why would you ask me if I’m single?” he asked.   
Eric looked confused. “Because I want to get to know you… since we’re partners…”   
“Why not ask if I’m married or in a relationship? Why assume I’m single?” Hyesung pursued, making Eric’s confusion even greater.   
“I don’t know.” Eric said after a moment. Hyesung felt annoyed, why had he asked him that? Was it that obvious that he was single?   
Eric backed off with his questioning then and decided sleeping was a better idea, much to Hyesung’s delight.   
Like usual, Hyesung hadn’t slept well, however the previous night had been even worse than normal.   
When he had finally fallen sleep, it was restless. He kept dreaming about Him, usually the same one, over and over. Hyesung was running through a forest and He was running at his side. A darkness was chasing them, a terrifying all-consuming darkness that was getting faster and faster and faster and they were running and running and running forever. Then Hyesung fell and physically could not get up, he felt the darkness claim his legs. He cried out for help but He kept running and no matter how much he screamed for help He wouldn’t turn around as Hyesung felt the darkness eat him away. After that he hadn’t wanted to go back to sleep.   
But now on the plane would have been the perfect opportunity for Hyesung to catch a couple more hours sleep. He tried getting comfortable, leaning his chair back ever so slightly and using his scarf as a cushion. Just as he was drifting off, feeling himself entering a blissful, dreamless sleep, he suddenly felt a weight on his shoulder bringing him abruptly back to full consciousness. He turned and saw. Eric had fallen asleep and was currently using his shoulder as a pillow.   
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Hyesung said under his breath. He tried to push Eric of his shoulder. However, instead of waking up like Hyesung thought he would, Eric decided to link his arm around Hyesung’s arm and cling on to him. For a moment Hyesung froze, shocked at the action. They had only known each for two days.  
“This guy is really too much.” he sighed. He then tried to pry the other man off his arm but then stopped, worried how awkward it would be if Eric had woken up at that moment. He watched the sleeping man for a moment wondering what to do. He could leave him be and hope that he’d naturally vacate his shoulder, or he could move him by force and risk waking him up so he becomes aware of how awkward Hyesung found the situation, or worse, he’d continue asking questions. He sighed, it’s probably better to leave him be and try to get some sleep. Hyesung leaned back and closed his eyes. Then he felt something damp on his shoulder. No way. Eric was dribbling, onto his shoulder. That decided it. Hyesung shoved his partner hard. Eric woke up dazed, looking around the cabin, seemingly unaware of why had awoken.   
“Are we there yet?” he asked. Hyesung was now too restless to sleep. 

*** 

The suspect’s house was an hour drive from the airport, they were driven up by a sweet young member of the local police force.   
“Constable Lee, had-” Eric began.  
“Please, call me Andy.” Andy interrupted as he drove them through country roads. “I hate formalities.” The man smiled.   
Eric nodded, he liked this guy. “Andy then, what have found out about the suspect?”   
“Well it’s been a bit difficult gathering information, he kept to himself you see, so not many people even met him. That’s strange enough, it’s a tiny village so everyone knows everyone, you know? Mostly he seemed to travel a lot, apparently he wouldn’t stay in the house for more than a day or two and usually only once a month. But he hasn’t been back in over a year.” Andy explained.   
Eric wrote down this information in his notebook. He read over his notes.   
“What really doesn’t make sense is how he got into the house.” Eric said to Hyesung. “I mean the victim’s house. He must’ve somehow had contact with Mr Kim or…” he shook his head. “I think it was stupid for us to come all the way up here, we should have been tracing where the victim could’ve have interacted with the suspect.”   
“Well we’re here now.” Hyesung sighed. Eric was right, this trip could’ve probably waited, but who knows, perhaps they’ll find some important evidence here. There must be a reason why he kept this house and through it they could possibly find out where he travelled too. 

The village that they arrived at was indeed very small; it seemed to be made up of exactly one street, with one convenience store and then just the same small grey terraced houses. The suspect’s house was one of these.   
“Here we are.” Andy stopped the car outside the end most house. “A lot of material has already been bagged, the guys in there will tell you about it, I’ll wait here.”   
Hyesung and Eric walked into the house were immediately hit by an intensely foul smell; like a mixture of sweat, spoiled milk, gas and cat piss.   
The interior was just as dingy as it seemed on the outside. The carpet was grey and coming lose around the walls, which were covered in old fashioned wallpaper however this was peeling mainly due to the damp coming from the ceiling.   
“No wonder he didn’t spend much time here.” Eric commented.  
They greeted the officers that were already there who handed them masks.  
“Soon the smell will become too overpowering.” One of them commented.   
“Where’s it coming from?” Eric asked.  
“Seems to come from the floor, we’ll probably have to take it up.” The thought of what might be causing the smell disturbed them all. It was likely one of two things, neither of which they’d want to see.   
“You look through the stuff they found, I’m going to look around upstairs.” Hyesung told Eric.   
“Why? What’s there going to be upstairs? They already found everything.” Eric questioned. Hyesung ignored him and went upstairs. He wanted to try and understand this man. Why did he come back to this shithole? What did it mean to him?   
Upstairs there was two rooms, a bedroom and a bathroom, and a storage cupboard. Hyesung went into the bedroom. It smelt disgusting but different from downstairs. Of damp but something more, something that almost made him gag. He couldn’t put his finger on it but the smell seemed to originate from the bed, which had no sheets on it just a single blanket.   
Hyesung stepped closer to the bed. The mattress was rotting. Who was this man? Just as Hyesung turned to leave something caught his eye. On the floor there was a small white square; it was a sweet wrapper. Hyesung picked it up and examined it. It was mostly white with a red square in the middle, there was no writing, the same as had been found on the victim. He put it into his pocket before going into the bathroom.   
He only opened the door before propelling himself backwards. Now he really was almost sick, no mask could cover that smell.   
None of this made sense. He lived in disgusting squalor but had the means to frequently travel back and forth between various places. This place probably had some significance to the suspect but then why hadn’t he been back in over a year? And where was he during that time?   
“Discovered his master plan yet?” Hyesung jumped out of his skin.   
“Stop doing that!”   
“Doing what?” Eric frowned.   
“That… nothing. Did you find out anything?” Hyesung asked.   
“Yeah, he left quite a few notebooks here. Had some pretty weird stuff in them, we should read through them.” Eric said.   
“Okay, but not here.”  
“I couldn’t agree more.” 

***

Andy took them to a café in a nearby town.   
“Will you need to be going anywhere else this afternoon?” Andy asked.   
“Well our flight is at 7 o’clock.”   
“Okay well I’ll pick up here around 4.30 yeah?”   
“Thanks Andy, really appreciate it.” Eric said before they went into the café. 

They spent hours reading over the notebooks, not really talking to each other, just the occasional comment as they took notes. The biggest worry was that they had found a list of five names, and one of the names was of the man whose murder they were investigating.   
“I think we’ll have to go straight to headquarters tonight after we fly in, these names could be a list of possible victims.” Hyesung suggested.   
“Yes, we should send the list through to the team down there, see what they can find out.”   
Apart from the names, the rest of the notebooks were pretty nonsensical. It seemed like he had started to develop some sort of code for his writing, but only in some of the notebooks, presumably these were the later ones. 

***

Andy arrived at 4.30 ready to take them to the airport, as he promised but as he walked into the café, there was a look of concern of his face.   
“Is there something the matter?” Hyesung asked.   
“It’s just… the weather.” Andy explained. It was awful weather, torrential rain and blowing a gale. “A lot of flights are being delayed.”   
Hyesung groaned at the news.   
“Well we better get going anyway.” Eric said, similarly dispirited. Neither of them wanted to have to be at the office even later than they intended.

When they arrived at the airport, after checking in and going through to their gate, they realised that the airport was in chaos. Many flights had been delayed so it was especially crowded and people were getting angry. Eric and Hyesung managed to find a place to sit while people around them bustled, swore and argued with airport staff.   
Their flight had been delayed too. More info a 9.00pm.   
“Really didn’t need this.” Hyesung muttered.   
“Well there’s nothing we can do about it.” Eric responded, his relaxed and calm tone irritating Hyesung, didn’t he realise how important it was for them to get back to headquarters that night?  
Hours passed, littered with Eric trying to make conversation, and defined by Hyesung’s frustration and stress slowly increasing. 

9.03am. Ding dong. An announcement about their flight.   
Hyesung put a finger to his lips to make sure Eric didn’t talk whilst he listened.   
“This flight has been delayed overnight. Please make your way to the desk for more information and to be provided with overnight accommodation.”   
Hyesung blinked in disbelief before putting his head in his hands to stop himself from screaming.   
“Well we better go over there.” Eric said, a bit tired now.   
“No, we have to get back tonight.” Hyesung said, taking his phone out his pocket.   
“How? What are we going to do?” Eric asked but Hyesung wasn’t listening; he was already trying to phone headquarters.   
“Hello? Hello this is DS Shin… yep… our flight has been delayed overnight… bad weather… we need to get a train or car or something, we have to be back tonight… okay thank you.”   
Eric looked at him questioningly.  
“They’re looking for a way to get us back there.” Hyesung explained. “Yes, hello… what, no we have to… look it’s really important… there has to be something… … well thanks a lot.” And he hung up.   
“Nothing?” Eric asked, Hyesung glared at him before storming past him to join the now rather long queue.

*** 

Due to Hyesung’s insistence on phoning headquarters and Eric’s refusal to let Hyesung push his way through to front of the queue, they were among the last group of people to arrive at the hotel by bus. Hyesung was pissed.   
“It’s rude to push people. They’ve been waiting just as long as you and are just as annoyed.” Eric said in, what Hyesung determined to be, a ‘know-it-all’ voice.   
“Shut up” was the only response he received.

Finally, they got to the hotel desk.   
“Hello, can I see your boarding passes please.” The very tired looking receptionist requested.   
They handed them over. “Were these tickets booked together?” She asked.   
“Yes.” Eric answered. The woman looked at the two of them for a second before glancing at queue behind them, which was now growing again. Obviously another flight had been cancelled.   
“Okay, your room is 243. Could you please just sign here.” She gave Eric the key card and he signed. Hyesung waited expectantly.   
“Enjoy your stay.” She said, looking a Hyesung directly.   
“Wait, are you giving us just one room? To share?” Hyesung asked.   
“Due to the bad weather, we must conserve as many rooms as possible, please understand.” The women explained.  
“But the room has two beds right?” Hyesung continued, really disliking the way the evening was going.   
“Hang on, let me check.” She typed something into her computer. “I’m afraid your room is a double room. I hope you’ll be understanding. Please enjoy your stay.” She said curtly, not letting Hyesung argue before waving them on. Hyesung was ready to fight for at least separate beds but Eric pulled him away from the desk.   
“What are you doing?” Hyesung exclaimed, shaking off Eric’s hold on him.   
“They’re having a stressful night, what’s the problem anyway?” Eric said. Hyesung looked at him in disbelief, how could that night get any worse.


	5. Chapter 4

They made their way up to their room in silence.  
“It’s a nice hotel.” Eric said. Hyesung was still annoyed and didn’t pay much attention to whether it was a particular quality hotel or not.  
They arrived at their room. It was very modern and clean.  
“At least the bed is pretty big.” Eric commented.  
Hyesung looked at the bed feeling defeated. “I’ll sleep on the floor.” He mumbled.  
“Don’t be stupid. It’s only for a few hours, I promise I don’t bite.” Eric smiled.  
“What about the case?” Hyesung muttered then.  
“The guys in headquarters will have to handle it for the time being, there’s nothing we can do about it.” Eric reasoned. He was right, Hyesung thought, why does he keep being right?  
Hyesung put his bag down on the bed and began to look for his tooth brush.  
“What are you doing?”  
“Looking for my toothbrush.” Hyesung frowned, what else would he be doing?  
“Are you going to bed now? It’s not even 10.”  
“Well… I’m-” he hesitated.  
“Come on, let’s go to the bar. I could use a drink.” Eric said before walking to the door.  
“I think I’ll just stay here thanks.”  
“No, you need a drink too. It’s been a stressful night.” And he practically dragged him out the door. 

***

The hotel bar was quite busy, obviously doing well from number of cancellations. Eric told Hyesung to go find a table while he got the drinks. Hyesung found a small table in the corner. He sat down and watched as Eric tried to get the bartenders attention. Who was this guy? He suddenly thought. He met him yesterday, so why did he feel like he’d known him for years?  
“Here you are.” Eric finally came over with their drinks. “Are you hungry or anything?”  
Hyesung shook his head before taking a sip of his drink. He suddenly felt awkward; the realisation that he didn’t know this man but had to share a bed with him was dawning on him. A silence developed between them.  
“So is the team at headquarters looking into the names?” Eric broke the silence.  
“Yeah, they are.” Hyesung replied. Silence again. He took another sip of his drink. 

***

Now half way through their second drinks, conversation had finally started. The alcohol was taking effect and they were both feeling relaxed. They talked about small stuff like how many siblings the other had; how long they had worked in the police force and where they grew up etc. What was strange was easy they found talking to each other now that they started.  
“So,” Hyesung began “Why did you transfer to my station?”, taking a genuine interest in the other man. Eric pondered the question for a moment, seemingly unsure of how to respond. “Sorry, you don’t have to answer.” Hyesung quickly said.  
“No it’s okay.” Eric took a sip of his drink before continuing. “It was my choice. A while ago I found something I shouldn’t have found. I took it to my Super’ but he didn’t want to know about it.”  
“Shit.” Hyesung muttered.  
“Yeah, well then came bribes. After refusing bribes came threats and blackmail. I wasn’t allowed to move without them threatening me or my family. I was only a kid; I couldn’t do anything. Finally, after years, someone else found something too, someone who could do something about it. The corruption was under covered and everything, I could’ve stayed but I didn’t want to.” Eric smiled sadly then.  
“What about your family?” Hyesung asked.  
“I didn’t want to tell them; it would’ve hurt them too much. They think I got promoted.”  
Hyesung could sense the bad memories coming back to Eric.  
“You’ve made a new start now.” Hyesung tried to comfort him, suddenly feeling guilty about the way he had treated him when they first met. How could this guy seem so energetic after being through that?  
“What about you? Why were you left sad and partner-less?” Eric asked, taking Hyesung by surprise. He hesitated, he hadn’t spoken to anyone apart from the Super’ about it, and that was only in formal terms. Eric noticed the awkwardness. “Sorry, did he pass away?”  
Hyesung shook his head. “No, he left.” He took a big gulp of his drink, wincing slightly. “We were in the middle of a case, and we had to go to this scumbag’s house. His was a dealer, but really small time, mostly he just acted as an informant for the police so we didn’t think it would be dangerous. We arrived and sat down to ask him come questions and suddenly the guy loses it.”  
Eric frowned.  
“He suddenly grabbed a baseball bat hit me over the head, hard. So what did my partner do? He ran away leaving me in that guys’ house alone. Turns out the scumbag was just having a bad trip or something. Soon after he hit me he had called an ambulance. I was in hospital for a week. My partner never came to see me once, in fact during that time he applied to be transferred. I haven’t seen him since that day.”  
“What an arsehole.” Eric commented.  
“I would have risked my life for him but he left me in the most fucking petty situation.”  
“Wasn’t he sanctioned? That should have got him sacked.” Eric frowned.  
Hyesung shrugged, seemingly deep in thought. Eric watched him, seeing the pain in his face. He still wasn’t over it. Your partner is supposed to have your back no matter what, the person you trust most in the world. To have that trust betrayed is devastating.  
“I was in love with him.” Hyesung blurted out. Eric regarded him with sympathetic but curious eyes.  
“Did he know?” he asked.  
“No.”  
“Why not?”  
Hyesung shrugged before downing the remains of his drink. “D’you want another drink?” He asked, standing up.  
“I’m fine thanks.” Eric replied. 

“How long were you two partners for?” Eric asked when he had come back to the table.  
“8 years.”  
“But you can’t have loved him for all 8 years?” Eric leaned towards Hyesung. Hyesung was now definitely tipsy.  
“Yes I did. From the moment I saw him.”  
“Wow.” Eric muttered. “He must’ve been hot.”  
“You have no idea.” Hyesung mumbled, dreamily. It so felt good to be talking about this, after locking his feelings away inside him for so long. “I wanted him so badly. I had to stop myself fantasising about having him while he was around. It was especially bad around the three-year mark, oh my god.” Hyesung ran his fingers through his hair.  
“Fantasies huh?” Eric questioned, leaning in slightly closer to the other man.  
“Yep.” Hyesung laughed, now that he’d started he wanted to tell everything. “Shall I tell you my fantasies?”  
Eric shrugged, trying to act nonchalant.  
“I’d be working late,” Hyesung began anyway “all by myself in the office and then he’d arrive with food and wine, because he was worried I was working too hard. So we’d drink and eat and suddenly he’d kiss me and tell me that he loved me, then we’d fuck on the desk.” Hyesung whispered the last bit but was giggling the whole time, a blush creeping over his cheeks.  
“That’s really romantic.” Eric joked, now leaning back, not believing what he was hearing. He liked tipsy Hyesung much better than sober DS Shin.  
“Wow I’m being so embarrassing.” Hyesung put his face in his hands.  
“Cute.” Eric said quietly, looking at Hyesung, but perhaps he wasn’t as quiet as he thought. Hyesung looked up at him. Their eyes connected. Silence. What was that look in his eyes? It looked like want. Hyesung began to bite his lip hesitantly as he looked at Eric. Eric swallowed dryly.  
“Falling in love with my partner was the biggest mistake of my life.” Hyesung said, not breaking eye contact.  
“Nothing good ever comes of getting involved with your partner.” Eric downed his drink and stood up, only breaking eye contact when he turned around. Hyesung got up to follow him. 

They waited outside the elevator in silence. Finally, it arrived. People got out; they got in. Only them. Hyesung got in first, then Eric who stood right beside him. So close. He could feel his heartbeat start to accelerate. He glanced at Eric. Wow, had his face always looked like that; so…so… defined.  
The doors of the elevator closed. 2 seconds. Hyesung pushed Eric and pinned him to the wall. Eric’s eyes widen in surprise. Kiss. And then he was kissing his mouth. Eric froze for a moment before kissing him back. He put an arm around Hyesung’s waist and Hyesung threaded a hand through his hair to pull him closer. Fuck. Soon the kiss deepened as Hyesung ran his tongue over Eric’s lips, wanting access. Just as Eric gave permission the elevator doors opened. Hyesung broke the kiss and walked out of the elevator. No. Eric was breathless. He looked at Hyesung. Hyesung’s eyes did not leave Eric’s; they were tempting him, inviting him, ordering him to follow. Who was he to refuse?


	6. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to say thank you for the lovely feedback I got from the last chapter, I found it really helpful and encouraging :)  
> Sorry I didn't update last week, and sorry this chapter is quite short and uneventful:/ but it help sets up the next chapter, so please enjoy!!

This was nice. This was warm and comfortable. Hyesung hadn’t slept this well in months and felt like he never wanted to leave this bed. It was so warm. He snuggled down more, into the warmth beneath him, into the… wait, what was he sleeping on? He registered human skin. Panic. His eyes shot open and his fears were confirmed. He was lying on Eric’s chest, Eric’s warm firm chest. Shit.  
He tried to calm his breathing. He wanted to run at top speed out of the room. No, he shouldn’t do that, that would be a bad thing to do, and embarrassing. Slowly he removed himself from the chest, glancing up at Eric to make sure he was still asleep.  
Oh fuck, what had he done? Why was he so stupid? Should he get up? No, what if Eric woke up while he rushed naked to the bathroom? He decided to stay put, just pretend to be asleep.  
It wasn’t too long until Eric did wake up. Sitting up, he looked around the room, his gaze pausing on his partner for a moment before getting up and walking to the bathroom.  
Hyesung tried to remain frozen while this happened but as soon as he heard bathroom door close, he jumped out of bed to start looking for his clothes. The reality of the situation dawned on him and he felt a sense of dread. He’d slept with Eric. His partner. His partner of two days. His partner of two days who was currently in the shower, naked, washing himself… Stop! This could not happen to him again. No, never ever get involved with your partner. Why had he done this? 

By the time, Eric was done in the shower Hyesung was fully dressed and sat glumly at the end of the bed. He stood up when he saw Eric.  
“Good morning.” Eric said, slightly sheepishly.  
“Morning.” Hyesung nodded back. Silence. They avoided each other’s eyes, standing as far apart as possible.  
“Look-”  
“I-” they started at the same time.  
“You first.” Eric said, after another stretch of silence. Hyesung ran his fingers through his hair, unsure of what he wanted to say.  
“Look…” he began hesitantly. “um last night was… it wasn’t… we… we had both had a bit too much to drink and… I’m sorry but last night was a mistake.”  
Surprisingly, Eric looked calm and nodded.  
“I think I agree.” He said.  
“That’s good, that’s so good.” Hyesung sighed, incredibly relieved before gathering himself back together. “So, do you think we could… um… forgot about it. I mean if you’re uncomfortable working with me now then I won’t mind if-”  
“It’s fine. We’ll put it behind us. A drunken mistake.” Eric assured Hyesung. “We’re working on a very important case; we must remain professional.”  
“Yes, I agree.” Hyesung said. Silence again. Hyesung glanced up at Eric then. A mistake. Fuck he was attractive, his hair still damp and slightly dishevelled and his shirt not totally buttoned up so you could see his chest…no! He couldn’t think like this, it cannot happen.  
“We should probably get ready to go.” Eric said after a minute. Hyesung nodded and walked to the bathroom, both flinching away from each other as they almost touched. 

***

The journey back was carried out in careful silence, only the most minimal conversation between the two, and that was only formalities. Hyesung felt uncomfortable, had they ruined their partnership due to one stupid drunken night? No, they agreed to move on, forget about it, it won’t be awkward after couple of days. Hopefully. 

When they arrived back at headquarters, the place was very quiet.  
“Where is everyone?” Hyesung asked as Dongwan came to greet them.  
“That doesn’t matter right now, the Chief Inspector is waiting to give a briefing, more people are being put on the case. The evidence you sent through suggests a potential threat to more lives.” He said.  
“Shouldn’t we be giving the briefing?” Hyesung frowned, it was their case after all.  
“You arrived too late.” Dongwan stated before leading them through to a meeting room.  
The room was full of rather tired irritated looking people.  
“DS Shin, DS Mun, so glad you could finally join us. We had managed to book you on an earlier flight but you weren’t picking up you phones last night, so here we are, half the day gone.” The rather grumpy Chief Inspector said. Hyesung could feel his cheeks starting to heat up.  
“Sorry sir.” Eric said first, before Hyesung said the same.  
“Right then, let’s get started. I’m afraid I already briefed about the actual murder but you two already know about that.” The Chief Inspector turned to the image of the suspect that was being projected onto the screen behind him. “This is our prime suspect. His name, John Lee, 26 years old. We found his finger print on the plastic wrapper that was found on the body.” The picture changed to one of the sweet wrapper. “Briefly at the age of 14 he went to the same secondary school as the victim, which was where he developed an obsession with him. This obsession resulted in the police becoming involved and he was moved away from that school by his parents. Both his parents died two years after this incident in a car accident. After this time, we lose track of Lee’s whereabouts and activities for three years until he is arrested for shop lifting. Then we are aware of the property he owned although he was not there frequently and we are not sure of any job or income. We highly suspect criminal activity.”  
Everyone in the room hurriedly took notes while the Chief paused a moment.  
“During the inspection of Lee’s property, we discovered a list of names which included the name of the victim.” A picture of the list. “We have researched the names on the list but have found it difficult finding the actually people connected to the suspect, however we have managed to contact one of the names who claims to know Lee. DS Shin and DS Mun, I would like you to interview Mr Lee Sungjin. The rest of you, I have allocated you all jobs including finding out where he’s getting money, where he’s buying these ridiculous sweets and where the hell he is now. Meeting dismissed.”  
Hyesung and Eric sat still for a moment, taking in all the new information.  
“Well, I guess we should do as we’re told.” Eric said and stood up to. Hyesung didn’t want to follow him but he knew he had to. He didn’t even want to look at him. 

“You should have seen him last night.” Dongwan said, standing beside Hyesung as he made coffee. “When neither of you would answer your phones, he looked like he was about to explode, and I’m the one who had to deal with it. Why weren’t you answering anyway?” Hyesung could feel his cheeks burn again as his mind flashed back to exactly why they weren’t answering, or even noticing the phones were ringing.  
“Um… we went to bed pretty early, it had been a long day, you know.” He mumbled. “I guess we were both in a deep sleep and our phones were on silent...”  
Dongwan watched him stumble through his words, suspicion momentarily arising before he nodded.  
“That’s understandable.” He said. At that moment, Eric came up to tell Hyesung that he was just going to go home quickly before they went to interview.  
“That’s fine.” Hyesung muttered, not looking Eric in the eyes.  
“I better leave this with you. It’s the updated case details, I’ve already read through them.” Eric moved to pass the file to his partner and Hyesung moved to take it but as Hyesung’s fingers tightened around the file, Eric’s hand brushed against his causing him to retract his hand as if he had just touched an exposed wire. The file clattering to the floor, paper everywhere.  
“Shit.” He said to himself, crouching down to collect the paper up. Eric started to do the same. “You go home I’ve got this.” Hyesung brushed him off.  
“Yeah, it’s okay, I’ll help.” Dongwan said. Eric smiled gratefully and left as Dongwan helped Hyesung.  
“In the future,” Dongwan started. “Perhaps don’t leave your phone on silent. Even if it does interrupt your sleep.” He smirked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just wanted to say that all names and characters in this fic, apart from Shinhwa members, are completely fictional and if a character has the same name as a celebrity, it is completely coincidental.


	7. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW// Blood, death, murder

Knock, knock, knock.   
They waited; the door opened.  
“Hello Mr Lee, I’m DS Mun, this is DS Shin, we would like to ask you some questions.”  
The man standing at the door looked to be in his mid-thirties, yet dressed as if he was twenty years older. His jumper was a faded grey, and his beige trousers looked like they’d seen better days. He had small eyes peeped out of thin fragile glasses. However, it was his abundance of long shiny hair that gave him an oddly youthful look.   
“Yes, hello come in. I got a phone call telling me you were coming.” His voice was steady, something Hyesung took as a good sign.   
The inside of the flat reflected the man himself. It was jarring as Hyesung couldn’t work out whether all the furniture was old, or all the furniture was new and made to look old.   
“Please take a seat.” Mr Lee Sungjin said as he led them into a sitting room/kitchen/art gallery. Hyesung perched himself on what looked like an old crate with a cushion stuck to it and watched as Eric navigated the vastly over-cushioned sofa.   
“Mr Lee.” Eric began once they had all sat down. “We’re here to ask you what you know about Mr John Lee.”  
“Has something happened to John?” the man’s voice was steady, but tinged with a noticeable hint of concern. Eric thought for a moment before answering the question. They had been informed not to reveal too much about the case, in fact they hadn’t even informed Lee Sungjin of the case that they were investigating. It was the best way, things could get complicated otherwise.   
“We are currently unaware of Mr Lee’s whereabouts. Perhaps you could start by telling us how you met him?”   
Sungjin observed Eric for and moment, quickly glancing to Hyesung before casting his eyes down.   
“You think John’s done something, right?” he said after a moment. Eric and Hyesung cast confused looks at each. It wasn’t really that hard to work out really, but it was strange to have someone trying to guess their intentions.  
“I’m afraid that’s confidential.” Hyesung replied this time. Sungjin turned to look at him. There was a slight steady anger there, nothing dangerous, just upset.   
“John hasn’t done whatever you think he’s done.” The man said calmly but firmly.  
“Mr Lee, we’re just here today– “   
“Why do you say that?” Eric interrupted. Hyesung felt his blood boil slightly. Not only did he not like being interrupted, but he could also see that Eric was going to do his own thing again. However, he couldn’t argue; he wanted to know too.   
“John was the single most sweet, innocent human being I have ever met.” Sungjin stated simply. “He was weird, yes, and some people didn’t like that. But John didn’t understand that how he acted made some people uncomfortable.”  
“How did he ‘act’?”   
“Well, the stalking… following was… You see John would become attached to people and he would love them. He never did anything out of hate, only love. He was upset with himself for this, he started to see patterns. As soon as he found someone he liked, he just wanted to be around them, but then he would see them become uncomfortable and eventually he hated himself.”   
“How did you meet John? Weren’t you one of these people he became attached to?” Hyesung asked, becoming slightly confused.   
“He’d become attached to anyone who showed him any kindness. I was one such person, but I didn’t push John away just because he seemed a bit weird, like everyone else did. I became his close friend and loved him dearly. However, I haven’t seen him in almost a year.”   
“Did he by any chance, keep a record of everyone who was kind to him?”  
“Um, I’m not sure, I never saw one.”   
“Did he ever talk to you about anyone else he was interested in?” Eric asked.  
“No, John would get upset, he had a lot of painful memories.”   
Hyesung rapidly took notes whenever Sungjin spoke. Something wasn’t adding up though. Did this guy really not know that his friend had murderous tendencies? He began to doubt the legitimacy of their alleged friendship.   
“Exactly how close were you to Mr Lee?” he asked. Sungjin’s eyes grew sad.   
“We were as close as you could be. John lived with me for almost two years, and for the majority of that time we were lovers.”  
“Why did John leave?” Eric asked.   
Sungjin shook his head. “I don’t know. Every few weeks he’d go to take care of the house his parents left him. John missed them a lot. One trip he went away and… he never came back. I thought he’d found someone else.” His voice was showing signs of breaking now but his facial expression conveyed pure defiant strength. “I’m not sure what you think John has done, but I know that he would never intentionally hurt anyone. I knew him better than anyone.”   
Hyesung and Eric turned to look at each other now, at a loss for anything to ask or say.   
“So…” Hyesung began tentatively. “You don’t know where Mr Lee is?”   
Sungjin shook his head.   
“Well thank you for your time. We appreciate it greatly. We’ll be in touch.” Eric stood up and beckoned for Hyesung to follow. He did so reluctantly, sure that there was something they were missing. He wasn’t sure what but something didn’t sit right.   
“One last question.” Hyesung spun around to face Sungjin again. “where did Mr Lee buy those sweets of his?”   
Sungjin frowned. “You mean those ridiculous candies… how did you know about them?” The detectives stayed silent. “I don’t know where he got them. I don’t even know why he ate them, it was one thing that he wouldn’t, or perhaps couldn’t explain to me.” 

***

Outside the flat and back into the car, Eric and Hyesung sat in silence for a moment. Nothing made sense.   
“He didn’t do it.” Eric finally spoke.   
“What?”   
“John Lee wasn’t the murderer.” Hyesung looked at him, confused.   
“His finger print was found on the body, on the item that was identified to be connected to him.” He looked at Eric, expecting a face of realisation at his complete folly in criminal analysis but instead received an expression that seemed to say “and?”.   
“That doesn’t prove guilt.”   
Hyesung huffed, speechless.   
“Come on Hyesung.” He winced at the sound of the other man saying his name. “You know something isn’t right.”   
“Yes, something doesn’t sit right, but that doesn’t mean our evidence backed theory is suddenly unbelievable. If anything, we have to say that John Lee is much more dangerous and deceptive than we expected.”   
“You saw Sungjin, he read us like a book. If he’s that perceptive then I expect Lee hiding the fact that he maybe could murder someone would be quite hard.”   
“Anyone can kill someone, it doesn’t always show.”   
“Yes, anyone can be a murderer but mostly only in the heat of the moment. You saw the pictures; this killer had planned this, they had managed to get into the house without…” Eric trailed off, his eyes glazing over, a frown appearing.  
“What? What is it?” Hyesung demanded. Eric didn’t reply. “For fuck sake, what is it?”   
Eric looked at him, the frown remained.   
“Nothing.” He turned to start the car.   
“No, you realised something, tell me what?” He was growing angrier.   
“John Lee didn’t do it.”   
“But the finger print.”   
“I can’t explain it, but I know.” he put the car in reverse and pulled out of the parking space.  
“Oh, that’s great, I’m sure that will stand up in court.” they were shouting now.  
Eric stopped and turned to Hyesung.   
“I don’t know Hyesung, can you stop being so blind!”   
“Stop calling me Hyesung!” Silence. They sat fuming, staring at each other. Their breathing heavy. Hyesung could feel the anger in him subside and be replaced with something else, as he looked at Eric, something equally intense. No. He turned away first, not noticing how Eric had cast his gaze down to his lips.   
“Let’s go back to station.” 

*** 

That night Hyesung dreamed about what could have happened in that car.   
Eric had turned to him, angry and intense. Hyesung’s heart had been racing, he went to turn his head away, fearful of the intense emotions he was experiencing when Eric reached out his hand and cupped his cheek and turned his face to face him again. Slowly Eric leaned forward, bringing Hyesung closer and closer and closer before finally claiming his lips. Suddenly they were running down the corridor of the hotel again, stealing kisses as they went, knowing that no-one would see them and then they were in their hotel bed again but then the bed wasn’t in the hotel room, it was in the office, and they were surrounded by all their work colleagues. Hyesung looked down at Eric to mention the fact but then forgot everyone in the room and kissed him instead, but then he realised someone was lying beside Eric. That’s weird, this was their bed, why would anyone else be in it? So Hyesung turned to tell whoever it was to get out when he came face to face the Victim. Laying there. Dead. Blood soaking their bedsheets. Hyesung screamed, and tried to get out but he couldn’t find any way off the bed and he couldn’t breathe and 

Hyesung woke up drenched in sweat. He immediately got out of bed and poured himself a glass of water. It was 5am; everything was silent. He couldn’t get the images of the dream out of his head. He hadn’t been ready to go back to work. The image of Eric kissing him arose in his head again. It couldn’t happen again, he would not allow himself to fall for his partner again no matter what, he would fight against it with every fibre of his being.  
Downing the rest of his water he went back to bed, hoping to perhaps get at least another half hour of sleep. But just as he settled down his phone rang. It was Eric.   
“Hello.” Hyesung replied groggily, confused at why Eric would be phoning at that time.   
“Lee Sungjin has been murdered.”


	8. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW// Some mildly graphic descriptions of mutilation and mentions of blood

Hyesung ducked under the yellow tape and stepped into the flat. Although he had only been there the day before, it felt like a different world now. Along the walls of the entrance hall, the paint had scraped and dented, giving a clear picture of the struggle that went on. And there was blood, already.  
He turned into the sitting room. It was filled with people in white plastic suits. And there in the centre, a sheet covering the body of Lee Sungjin. Hyesung felt glad he couldn’t see the body, because he could see the amount of blood that was staining the floor around him. So much blood, a metallic smell stuck in the air. Eric approached him.  
“You okay?” he asked. Hyesung turned, surprised by his presence.  
“What? Oh yeah… fine.”  
“You were looking a bit…” Eric gestured broadly towards the body.  
Hyesung shook his head. “I’m fine.” He looked around the room; there had been a big struggle. Sungjin had gone down fighting. “Who called the police?” he asked Eric.  
“Neighbours heard the struggle, they called it in. Although by the time the police arrived he was already dead.”  
“Any ideas about who did it?”  
Eric hesitated, seemingly reluctant to answer the question. “They found a wrapper on the body, the same one that was linked to John Lee.”  
“Was it placed over the heart again?”  
Eric shook his head, looking grim. “His tongue had been cut out and it was placed in his mouth.” Hyesung grimaced at the image that was forming in his head.  
“Well, it’s not hard to work out that John Lee didn’t like Sungjin giving us an interview.” He said, turning away from the centre of the room, slowly and subtly moving towards the door.  
“John Lee? Doesn’t this prove that it wasn’t Lee?” Eric exclaimed. Hyesung sighed, not again.  
“And how’s that?”  
“Well it’s not like Sungjin was giving us any proof that Lee was the murderer, in fact it was quite the opposite. It must be someone else who didn’t like that Sungjin was getting us to doubt our suspicions of Lee.”  
“But how would they know? They weren’t here, neither Lee nor anyone else knew what Sungjin was telling us. Lee could easily have assumed that Sungjin was selling him out to the police.”  
“Someone else might know that, because Lee is innocent, any information about him would prove this.”  
Hyesung’s head spun. Maybe Eric was right. There was some logic there, but the evidence was too substantial. He glanced at the covered body on the floor, some men were now preparing to lift him out. A bloody hand fell out from under the sheet. So much blood that there was no skin visible. He felt his stomach lurch.  
“I’m sorry.” He whispered before running from the room. 

He wasn’t sick. That was something. After a lot of walking around in circles, he crouched down and leaned against a wall. It was drizzling but Hyesung didn’t mind, the cold rain hitting his face was quite comforting. He wasn’t sure what had come over him, never had he been so affected by a dead body, not even the first time he saw one.  
The door to the building opened and the person that Hyesung least want it to be walked out.  
“It’s pretty tough huh?” Eric said, crouching down beside him.  
“I’m usually not that bad.” Hyesung replied.  
“It’s okay, sometimes it just hits you. Just take deep breathes.”  
Hyesung nodded, choosing to do just as he advised.  
“It’s just… he died cause we talked to him.” He whispered.  
“No, he didn’t.” Eric turned to him. Hyesung was so pale and his hands were shaking. So frail and small. Tentatively he put his hand on his shoulder. “He didn’t die because of us. He died because some sick fuck decided to kill him, we have zero responsibility, okay?”  
Hyesung didn’t reply. Eric squeezed his shoulder and shook him slightly.  
“Okay?”  
He nodded, finally, leaning into Eric’s warm, comforting hand. They stayed there for a moment longer, content in each other’s presence.  
Eric’s phone buzzed. Eric removed his hand as he reached to answer it and Hyesung shivered as cold replaced the warmth.  
“Hello… yes sir… right away sir.” He hung up. “We have to go back to the station, looks like they found out where he was buying the sweets.” 

*** 

“It’s that exit, no that one.” Hyesung screeched as Eric swerved into the right lane, now wishing that he had insisted on driving. They were heading towards the coast having just learnt of the one place that still sold the candies that John Lee was seemingly so fond of. If they found who has been buying them, then they could possibly narrow down, or eliminate any suspects.  
The place they arrived at looked old, so old. There was nothing of modern day about the place apart from their car. Right on the sea coast stood a tiny shabby little hut. The grey rainy weather was doing nothing to increase the appeal of the place.  
The inside of the shop was no more enticing than the outside. It was small, dim and smelled slightly damp. Although the food on the selves were the same as you’d see in a supermarket, it felt as if there was something off about them. At the back of the shop was the counter, with an old man standing behind it.  
“Hello, sir. I’m DS Mun, this is my partner DS Shin, we called ahead?” Eric walked confidently forward.  
“Yes, yes course you had some questions about my shop?” The old man stuttered out.  
“Well actually it’s about something you sell.” Hyesung stepped forward now and took a photograph out of his pocket. “This is the wrapper of a brand you stock we believe?”  
The old man squinted at the picture before nodding.  
“Yes, that’s right. I’m the only one in the country who stocks them anymore.” He said with some pride. “They used to be in every shop when I was a kid but then people stopped buying them and the modern world of mass factory production took over. Well, I keep them. They are only made for me now.”  
“Do you sell many of them?” Eric asked. The man’s face fell slightly.  
“No not really. Don’t sell much of anything really, it would save me a lot if I closed. But I can’t do that, these folk ‘round here don’t have nowhere else. There’s only one bus a day and most of ‘em are too old to drive.”  
“Right, sir. Well perhaps have you ever sold these candies to this man.” Eric showed him a picture.  
“Why that’s little John Lee isn’t it?” The man was smiling now. “Now I haven’t seen him… well it must be almost a year now. When he was a kid he used to come here on holiday and he got a sweet tooth. Then he use to come down here ‘bout once a month to buy them candies. I offered to send them to him, there’s no reason for him to come all the way down here now was there? But he wouldn’t hear it, said he liked my company. A very sweet boy.”  
Eric glanced at Hyesung and he knew what he was thinking. The innocence of John Lee was becoming slightly more plausible with every break through.  
“Have you sold these to anyone else recently?”  
The man thought for a moment.  
“There was a couple a few weeks ago. I remember ‘cause they was acting a bit odd.”  
Eric seemed to tense.  
“Odd how?”  
He shrugged his shoulders. “I just got the feeling. Anyway, they came in and they wanted a big jar of the sweets so I give it to them. But, no, I tell you what was odd. Right after they left, my son ring me and the service in here is very bad so I went outside and saw them walking towards them washed up containers.”  
“Sorry sir, why would you consider that strange?” Hyesung frowned.  
“Well there’s nothing down there but some washed up containers. I think some transport ship capsized and the containers washed up all broken. No one has bothered to move them no matter how much we ask.”  
At that moment, the door of the shop opened and an old woman walked in. She froze momentarily as she saw the detectives and glanced at the old man.  
“Alright love, don’t worry about these. They just been asking me some questions. I just be telling them about that couple that I told you ‘bout, down by the containers.” The old man chatted.  
“Oh my, this exciting.” She flattened down her coat. “That couple, you say? Well I happen to know that a man has been living in them containers down there.” She looked oddly smug.  
“Sir, how old was this couple?” Eric was extremely tense now.  
“They looked to be in their twenties.”  
“Thank you for your time.” Eric said before nodding at the old lady and walking briskly out the shop. Hyesung followed, smiling awkwardly at the now slightly baffled looking old man and woman. 

“Eric what is it? What are you doing?” Hyesung ran to keep up with Eric.  
“It was the fiancé, Miss Kim, from the first murder. Her and someone else.” He continued to power walk in the direction of the containers.  
“What? How could it be?” Hyesung grabbed Eric’s arm. “Stop, please talk to me. I’m your partner.” He stopped.  
“The first murder, there was no break in. Meaning it had to either be someone in the house or someone the victim or fiancé would let in. She was very quick to point the finger at someone else, and she knew the evidence would be found. Don’t you think it slightly strange that we find a finger print identifying Lee but we find absolutely no other DNA evidence pointing to him. John Lee is probably dead, no one has seen him in over a year. They probably killed him and have used him to plant evidence. The second murder there was forced entry, so it’s obvious this killer hasn’t got some mystical power to open doors.”  
Hyesung froze, staring into space. He was right.


	9. Chapter 9

Eric and Hyesung made their way along the road, past their cars, towards the containers. As they got closer the road ended as they walked over what looked like a junk yard. There were too many hiding places, Hyesung thought; too many blind spots.

Around twenty large shipping containers were scattered close together. Most of them were laid on their sides, often with massive dents and holes in them.

“Let’s check the ones that are standing first.” Eric whispered, drawing out his gun. Hyesung did the same. They approached the closest upright container, waiting outside, both on either side of the opening. They listened. Nothing. Eric signalled with his fingers.

 _Three, two, one_.

The pulled the doors open and stormed in with guns raised. No one was inside.

Moving onto the next container they repeated the procedure. And the next container.

They couldn’t see any sign of anyone yet, but Hyesung felt the urge to keep looking over his shoulder.

 

They moved forward slowly, advancing onto the next container.

“Hey.” Hyesung whispered, getting Eric’s attention. “Look.” He gestured to behind the far side of the metal box. There were around five black bin bags stacked against the container. Their first sign of life.

 _Three, two, one_.                                                

Into the container, they went.

“Well this is it.” Eric said, lowering his gun and looking around the scene in front of him. There was no one else in the container. However, there was a sleeping bag and a pile of food wrappers.

“So, you think this is where Miss Kim has been staying?” Hyesung looked around at the rather shabby interior.

“No, of course not. This is where her accomplice has been staying.” Eric moved forward to look around the contents of the container.

“Right. And why d’you reckon he’s staying inside a broken shipping container?”

“Don't know.” Eric shrugged. “Maybe he has no money. Maybe he’s on the run. Maybe he just likes it.”

Hyesung rolled his eyes. He didn’t want to believe Eric’s theory about the murder. That Miss Kim, the fiancé of the first murder victim, whom he had felt so much genuine pity for, had tricked them all. It wasn’t nice to feel like you were wrong, that something you had barely questioned was wrong. But he knew he couldn’t get caught up on that, there were more important things here than his ego being marred. Lives were at stake.

“Okay, well we should probably get out of here and go hide before whoever this person is gets back.” Hyesung turned to the door, expecting Eric to follow. Not hearing Eric follow he turned back around, full prepared to drag the other man out of there.

 _Bang_.

Suddenly they were thrown into darkness.

“Fuck!” Hyesung ran towards the now closed door and shoved it hard. The door gave slightly, someone was holding it closed on the other side. “This is the police, open the door.” He shouted. “Eric help me.” Hyesung pushed harder but the person on the other side was stronger and managed to get the door closed. He could hear him putting something across the door, locking them in. By the time that Eric was beside him the door was locked and they could hear the person on the other side running away.

“Shit. We’re fucking trapped.” Hyesung kicked the door before turning around and pacing up and down the container. There were a couple of holes in the top of the box, which let in minimal light but quickly their eyes adjusted.

“If we had only been two minutes quicker.” Hyesung fumed.

“I don’t think it would’ve made much of a difference. He was probably watching us the whole time.” Eric said, although Hyesung made a noise that suggested he really didn’t appreciate his contribution to the conversation.

“We’ve got to contact headquarters.” Hyesung said then taking out his phone. He wouldn’t stop pacing.

 

***

 

After calling headquarters, and being told it’ll be almost an hour before they would be saved, all they could do was wait, for what felt like forever.

“I should’ve told them that he was threatening to set the box on fire, maybe they’d get here a bit quicker then.” Hyesung had finally got tired of his pacing and was now sat down leaning against the wall. Eric sat opposite him, sitting against the opposite wall.

“I could’ve pretended to be unconscious, that would’ve worked. We could’ve sent a photo.” Eric smiled tiredly. Through the darkness, he noticed Hyesung returned the smile. His heart skipped, taking him by surprise. “Your smile is…” he stopped himself, he hadn’t meant to speak, now wasn’t the time, was it? Hyesung breath caught slightly as he frowned.

“My smile is what?”

Eric hesitated. He tried so hard not to say anything but now, here, alone, he felt his resistance waning. “Nice.” He muttered.

“DS Mun we-“

“I know, and it doesn’t mean anything. I don’t see you smile much so it was nice, okay?” Eric spat, he could feel his cheeks heating up.

Hyesung didn’t say anything.

“You called me Eric earlier.” Eric said after a moment.

“When?” Hyesung said quietly, fully aware of when he had said it.

“When you were asking for my help.”

“Oh, right.” Hyesung cast his eyes down. “Must’ve just slipped out, sorry.” He wasn’t lying. That’s what scared him, it was so natural.

“I liked it.”

Hyesung’s breath caught again.

“D-“

“I think we should call each by our actual names.” Eric interrupted.

“I-“

“Why shouldn’t we?” Eric tilted his head to the side. Hyesung felt his face get hotter. Eric knew the answer to that question, why was he being like this, now, when it was just the two of them?  

“It’s not professional.” Hyesung’s voice was getting weaker as he tried not to let Eric know how breathless he was becoming. They were silent for a moment.

“If you really don’t want to I guess… but…” Eric sighed. “I can’t pretend anymore.”

“Can’t pretend what?” They sat in silence, only the sound of their breathing filling the container. Hyesung didn’t want to know, regretting asking why. He should’ve left it. Eric shouldn’t be like this, they had agreed. This was dangerous.

“I can’t stop thinking about that night.” Eric said finally, closing his eyes as he did.

 _Me too_. Hyesung immediately thought. No. He shut down the thought. He couldn’t speak.

“The way your body felt against mine …” Eric sighed.  Hyesung felt a shiver go down his spine.

 _Stop_. He screamed in his head as images of _that_ night arose in his mind.

“The way you felt under me …”

The box was too small, too hot.

“The taste of your lips.” Hyesung watched then as Eric’s eyes snapped open, pupils blown with lust. He couldn’t look away. The walls felt like they were closing in. Eric saw his lust returned in Hyesung’s eyes. He stood up.

 _No, please no_. Hyesung thought frantically but could not bring himself to speak.

Eric walked towards his partner, his eyes never leaving his. Hyesung felt his body loosening as Eric approached, his arms fell to his side and his eyes followed Eric as if they could never ever look at anything else in the world. Still part of his mind, the rational part of his mind screamed _no_.

Eric reached Hyesung in less than three steps yet it felt like eternity. He stood over Hyesung, his feet placed either side of Hyesung’s legs. They could both hear the blood pounding in their ears. Eric sank down, straddling him as their faces became level once more.

Hyesung had to stop this he couldn’t let this happen, not again…

“Eric…” he sighed. It didn’t come out as he intended, his body betraying him.

Eric reached his hand up to push some hair away from Hyesung’s face.

“Yes?” he asked softly. But he no reply came, so Eric leaned forward slowly. “Can I kiss you?”

 _No_. Hyesung thought but couldn’t bring himself to say it. If he just said nothing, if he just stayed still, maybe he’d go away. Maybe this feeling would go away.

But fuck he wanted to kiss him, he wanted to kiss him so badly. He felt himself nodding, but stopped himself quickly, hoping Eric didn’t notice. But he did. Quickly his lips were on Hyesung’s. Suddenly all thoughts of resistance flew away as Hyesung melted into Eric, his hand threading through his hair as their kiss intensified. All he wanted was Eric, right then all he wanted in the whole world was Eric, to be consumed completely in that moment. And Eric wanted him back, it felt so good to wanted, to be loved, to not be alone, it was like-

 _Bang. Bang. Bang_.  

“DS Mun, DS Shin, are you in there?”


	10. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry about not updating in a while, just had a lot of uni work. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

The drive back to the station was conducted almost entirely in silence. The other officers had insisted that they didn’t drive so they both sat in the back of a police car, staring out of their respective windows.   
It was confirmed that Miss Kim was now a key suspect as a photo of her was presented to the shop keeper to confirm identity. So they had made a major breakthrough with the case. But Hyesung didn’t want to think about the case now.   
He felt torn. He felt tired. But also, he felt angry. Everything had gone wrong since he had gone back into the field. After months of desk work and cautiously imagining what it’d be like to go back out there, he had hoped for something easy, for someone easy and neutral and distant. Why did this have to happen now? Why so soon? Why didn’t Eric understand?   
He sighed silently. This wasn’t Eric’s fault. He knew this, but found it hard to accept.   
He felt torn. His head knew what these feelings were, it had experienced them before. It had experienced them for eight years. Eight fucking years. And it knew where they would lead. They would lead to hurt and heartbreak and disappointment and emptiness. Well that’s what happened last time, why wouldn’t it happen this time too?   
Yet his heart also knew these feelings, and it also knew the hurt of the past but it was willing to forgive and try again. The feeling was so euphoric that nothing else mattered and it just wanted to grab the moment with both hands and run.   
Okay he was being dramatic. Really he just didn’t want to be hurt again and felt like he hadn’t got over the last time yet. Why did this have to happen now?

***

As soon as they back to the office a meeting was held. They were to find the address of Miss Kim and move to arrest her as soon as possible.   
While the meeting was being held there was a knock at the door and a young officer came in and asked the Super Intendent to come out of the room for moment. The other participants of the meeting sat in silence, confused about what happened. Was it something about this case or another one? Hyesung glanced around the room, surprised to find that everyone was looking a lot less tired than he felt. He sat up straighter in his chair suddenly self-conscious of his posture. He shouldn’t be this tired, he needed to do his job well. He didn’t need the emotional turmoil that was going on inside him right now. Anger flared in him again.   
The Super’ came back in, an odd expression on her face.   
“John Lee’s body has been found in his house.” She said. Sense of understanding radiated around the room, they knew what this meant. Hyesung and Eric glanced at each other, remembering the house they went to. Suddenly the awful smell made sense.   
“We had discovered a body there not long after DS Shin and DS Mun investigated the house, however his identity was only confirmed today. Lee’s thumb and forefinger on his right hand had been removed posthumously.”   
Silence remained throughout the room as everyone processed this information.   
“It has been estimated that Lee had been dead for almost a year.” Now the sound of murmurs began. They had been played. The murderers had killed three times now. But why? Hyesung thought. What were they achieving, what was their motives?   
The meeting adjourned. 

***  
The coffee machine coughed into life, obviously only surviving on its last legs. Hyesung rubbed his eyes as he stood alone in the small kitchen-like room in the office that stored only coffee, tea and cheap snacks. It was going to be a long night. The door opened behind him. He didn’t look, hoping it was Dongwan or anyone else. Just not that person. But of course, Hyesung was never that lucky.   
“You okay?” Eric spoke first, glancing at Hyesung whilst he got mug out of the cupboard.   
“I’m fine.” Hyesung replied sharply. He didn’t want to be around him. His frustration was growing.   
“I asked the Super’ why she didn’t tell us that a body had been found at the Lee’s house when they first found it, she thought we already knew.” The annoyance was clear in Eric’s voice. His partner sighed loudly at the news.   
“I’m not surprised honestly.”   
Neither spoke for a while. Hyesung just waiting patiently for the machine to work so he could get out of there as soon as possible as he could sense that Eric was thinking of what to say to start a conversation. Too late.   
“Are we going to ignore what happened between us again?” Eric asked flatly. That was it.   
“What do you want from me Eric?” Hyesung spun around to face the other man. “Don’t you understand how unprofessional this is? Don’t you understand the complications this brings?”  
“I- “   
“No you don’t! I have lived this before and I know that being involved with your partner is not a good idea!”  
“But you weren’t involved with your partner.” Eric snapped.   
“What?”   
“You just loved him from afar whilst he ignored you and betrayed you.”   
Hyesung stared, his face like stone.   
“I’m here Hyesung. I’m here and I want you and you want me. I am not like him!” Eric stopped himself from shouting and took a deep breath.   
“But what am I supposed to do with that?” Hyesung began forcefully. “Where are you trying to take this? Why me? Why now?” his voice trailed off. “What am I supposed to do?”  
Eric looked at him softly then.   
“Nothing.” He took a step towards him, cautiously, hoping Hyesung wouldn’t back away. But he didn’t, he just looked at him. Eric took another step until he was stood directly in front of the other man. “You don’t have to do anything, and I’m sorry if I’ve been too… persistent. And we’ll take this wherever you want and whenever you want. But why you?” Eric brought his hand up to cup Hyesung face gently. “Because I’ve never met someone as perfect as you before. Because you make me want to do the most ridiculous things but mostly because whenever you’re not around I can’t stop thinking about you and when I’m with you I feel something indescribable.” His eyes washed over Hyesung’s face, drinking in this beautiful man before him. “But I don’t want to let this go because I know we have something special.”  
Hyesung stared at his partner, a million emotions swirling around his body. But amidst the confusion, a prevailing sense of warmth spread through his body as he listened to Eric’s words. He knew his heart had won this time.   
“I don’t want to let this go either.” He whispered.   
“Shall we do this?” Eric whispered back. Their foreheads were now pressed together as they shared this moment. “Slowly, one step at a time.”   
Hyesung felt his heart beat faster as he focused on the words being said. He couldn’t speak. He nodded.


	11. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW// This chapter does contain some slightly violent and scary scenes however I have tried not to make them too graphic.   
> Sorry again for so long between updates, the next chapter, which will be the final chapter, will be up by next week. Thank you for reading!

The door flew open and Dongwan hurtled into the room. Eric and Hyesung pulled away from each other but it was too late, Dongwan was already looking at them was a smug expression on his face. Great, now the whole office would know. However, somehow Hyesung couldn’t really bring himself to care that much.   
“What is it Dongwan?” Hyesung said after a moment, trying to keep the blush from his cheeks.   
“We’ve found something.” he said, his smirk growing after hearing Hyesung’s annoyed tone. Eric was deliberately avoiding eye contact.   
The three of them went to Dongwan’s desk where around fifteen officers were crowded.   
“This was caught on CCTV downtown.” Dongwan said as he showed them a clip on the computer. The video was of a small street at night although it was brightly lit by street lights, after a moment a man walked down the street before turning left, opening a gate and proceeding down a path which Hyesung assumed led to house however it was out of shot so he couldn’t be sure.   
“Is that him? The guy from the ship containers?” Eric asked.   
“We don’t know, we don’t actually know what he looks like since you guys didn’t get a look at him and the shop keeper couldn’t really give us an accurate description apart from his approximate age. However just wait a moment.” Dongwan skipped the video along a bit before playing it again. Now in the video a woman walked along the road and went through the same gate as the man before. Dongwan paused the video, rewinding it before zooming in on the woman’s face. They all knew who she was.   
“When was this filmed?” Hyesung asked.   
“Around 10PM this evening.”   
It was now 3AM. They had to move fast. 

*** 

The firearms unit was mobilised. Hyesung and Eric followed behind in their car. The building that the suspects had gone into, which had not been visible in the video was an abandon old hotel, some place that had gone bankrupt and now no one really knew what to do with it so it lay empty. Presumably a haunt for drug addicts and the homeless. If as many people were in that building as they expected, it was going to be a difficult night.   
“You okay?” Eric asked softly, he was driving.   
Hyesung nodded. “I’m ready for this case to be over.”   
They parked a street away from the hotel and waited for the signal to move in. The police force was deadly silent. Just the occasional cough coming from open windows of neighbouring buildings. The firearms unit proceeded forward first, quietly but quickly moving up to the hotel. It was smaller than Hyesung imagined. Although it was maybe five storeys high it was very narrow, hopefully this meant it would be easier to search.   
All movement halted for a second, the officers positioned to enter the building. The signal came. Then a stream of armed officers in safety gear flooded into the hotel. Eric and Hyesung followed behind them, guns pulled out and ready just in case.   
The ground floor of the hotel was announced clear and the two detectives were allowed into view the space. The entrance was quite a large reception area. The carpet had mostly been pulled up and there were a couple of cans of beer and bottles lying around suggesting that humans had been here although that wasn’t really a surprise. They were expecting to find a lot of homeless people to be staying here however so far, they hadn’t seen anyone. A sense of added caution took hold when this fact sunk in with everyone. Had the other people living here been persuaded to leave? Or had they been threatened? This would be one of the best places in the city to stay at if you were homeless. It was still standing and relatively intact, not many of them would have given it up without a fight which meant the latter situation seemed more likely. How dangerous were this couple?   
The second and third floor were also declared clear, without a single person in sight. Apart from the dead heroin addict that had overdosed with the needle still sticking into his arm which they found in one of the backrooms of the second floor.   
The police had remained as quiet as functionally possible moving up through the levels, although it didn’t really make much difference as the area was so quiet anyway that anyone in the building would have easily heard the dozens of footsteps proceeding up the building.   
It was Eric and Hyesung’s job to go into each room after it had been announced clear to look for any clues or evidence that anything had happened there.   
“I’ll start in the rooms at the back and work this way, you start this end.’ Eric suggested before moving off.   
Hyesung entered the first room on his left. The room was dark and the only thing that he had to light it with was a small torch. He couldn’t deny that he found it a bit creepy. He swept his torch around the room, pausing over some stains on the wall. Moving closer he could see it was mainly just damp however there seemed to be some flecks of blood around the edges. These could be years or just a week old, he’d have to wait for forensics to figure out which. Hyesung stood by the wall with his back to the room, the torch light trailed down to the floor. There was larger blood stain on the floor. He bent over to look more closely. The blood didn’t look that dry, it could be quite a recent stain. He should go tell Eric. He stood up about to turn around when suddenly he felt something heavy hit the back of his head. He fell to his knees for a second, stars flashing behind his eyes, before pulling himself back up and spinning around raising his gun. But his hands were shaky and his attacker hit the gun out of hands with ease. His torch had fallen to the ground. He couldn’t see anything and his head throbbed. He could vaguely make out the outline of the door and tried to walk towards it. But his limbs were sluggish and his balance was off. His attacker grabbed him from the back, throwing an arm around his neck.   
“Eric!” Hyesung called out, unsure of whether he was making any sound at all. He struggled as much as he could. Grabbing the arm around his neck he pulled and pulled managing to lighten the pressure on his windpipe and sucking in some air. The attacker was slightly smaller than him which Hyesung used to his advantage, pulling and pushing, trying to get him off. But the blow to his head had made him weak and he stumbled. At this the other man grabbed his hair pulling his head back before punching Hyesung in the thigh. Well Hyesung thought he was punching him but suddenly a sharp pain shot through him from his leg. Hyesung reached down and felt a warm wetness covering his trousers there. He’d been stabbed. The arm around his neck was tightening again and he start to feel lightheaded.   
“Eric…” he called out again. There was a loud bang and then everything faded into darkness.


	12. Chapter 11

His body ached. It felt like he’d been hit in the head by one hundred baseball bats. He could hear beeping and a quiet murmuring. He tried opening his eyes but he didn’t have the strength. Darkness consumed him again.   
The next time it started with the beeping and there was a song. A song was playing. His body still ached but his head didn’t feel as bad. Slowly Hyesung became more conscious of his position, feeling the bed underneath him and the sheets on top and the oxygen mask on his face and the hand cupping his hand. But he still couldn’t open his eyes and after a short while he fell back into unconsciousness.   
It all happened quite quickly the time after that. Just like waking up from a deep sleep. Hyesung opened his eyes although his eyelids felt sticky and slow. Bright light filtered through as the blurry room came into focus; it was all very white. A small radio played beside his bed and sitting in the chair opposite the bed was a man. It took Hyesung a few moments for his eyesight to come into focus but after a while he realised the man was Eric, asleep, wearing the same clothes he’d been wearing the last time he… memories started flashing through Hyesung’s mind, feelings of being choked, of being stabbed, of crying out for help. What had happened to him? How had he survived?   
At that moment, the door to the room opened and a short man with small eyes and brown chestnut hair walked in.   
“Oh, Mr Shin you’re awake.” He smiled before going over to the wall and pressing a button. “I’m Doctor Lee and I’ve been attending to your whilst you’ve been a patient here.”   
Hyesung gently lifted his arm up to his face to remove the oxygen mask, wincing at each little bit of pain that the movement caused.   
“How long have I been here?” his voice sounded hoarse and it hurt to speak. Before answering Dr Lee brought a cup of water with a straw in it to Hyesung’s lips to drink, soothing the dryness.   
“Around 40 hours now.”   
Hyesung felt slightly relieved, he was half expecting to have been here longer. He glanced around the room and noticed Eric again.   
“And him? How long has he been here?” he asked.   
“As long as you have.” Dr Lee said as he checked some of the machines that were beeping around Hyesung’s head.   
After a moment, the door opened again and a tall man with a sharp but pretty face came in wearing hospital uniform.   
“This is nurse Park, he will just do some checks on you now and if you need anything then just press this button” he took a square box with a wire attached to it and put it on Hyesung’s bed next to his hand “And someone will come to your assistance.” Dr Lee explained.   
The nurse did some simple check-ups, politely chatting while he did so and made sure that Hyesung felt completely comfortable before finally leaving. Then it was just Hyesung and Eric alone in the room again.   
At some point whilst nurse Park was there Eric must have woken up because as soon as the nurse left the room Eric stood up.   
“How you are feeling?” he asked gently and approached the side of the bed, his hand hovering over Hyesung’s unsure whether to hold it.   
“A bit sore but okay I think.” Hyesung replied and gently reached up for Eric’s wavering hand. They stayed silent for a bit, Hyesung content to have Eric with him but the other man looked uneasy.   
“What happened?” Hyesung asked. “What happened to the guy that attacked me?”  
“I shot him.” He replied quickly and firmly. “Dead. It was the guy we’d been looking for. The woman was found upstairs, she’s been arrested.”   
“Thank you.”   
“For what?”   
“For saving my life.”   
Eric couldn’t meet Hyesung’s eyes.   
“I should…” Eric began. “I shouldn’t have left you alone. We should have stayed together.”   
“No.” Hyesung replied immediately. “No, this was not your fault. It’s standard search task, and I should be able to handle myself, this was not your fault.” He was not going to allow Eric to blame himself. “Hey, look at me.” Hyesung pulled on Eric’s hand until he raised his eyes to look at Hyesung’s face. His eyes were red. “This was not your fault okay? Tell me it’s not your fault.”   
Eric didn’t speak.   
“Tell me it’s not your fault now!” he tried to say it as commanding as possible but his voice cracked and started having a coughing fit. Eric rushed around the other side of the bed to get Hyesung’s cup of water and give it to him.   
“Okay, okay. It’s not my fault. Now please don’t injure yourself further.” Eric sighed as he watched Hyesung stare at him defiantly as he drank his water. He put the cup on the bedside table. Then, slowly leaning down, he placed a gentle kiss on Hyesung’s forehead.   
“I never want to see you hurt again.” He said. Hyesung reached up and reclaimed Eric’s hand as his own. 

*THREE WEEKS LATER*

Hyesung stared at himself in the mirror. All the swelling on his face had completely gone and the bruising that had been dark around his neck had faded. He no longer really needed to use his crutch although standing for a long time still caused him some pain.   
He wore his nicest pair of jeans and a shirt that his mum had bought him for his birthday but he hadn’t yet had the occasion to wear it.   
He went back to work tomorrow. Back to desk work but only for a couple of weeks before he was fully recovered.  
But tonight wasn’t about that. Tonight was his first official date with Eric. Whilst he’d been recovering, Eric still had to work. The amount of paper work he had to do had been monumental. But finally, they had found time to have a date.   
Hyesung didn’t know why but he felt nervous. Eric had come to see him constantly whilst he was recovering and they had been somewhat affectionate, in very subtle ways. But this was different. This was properly coming terms with their… relationship?   
It felt weird thinking of it as a relationship. Was it a relationship yet? Hyesung felt like he’d known Eric for years but he also felt that he’d met him yesterday. Were they doing the right thing?  
The doorbell rang and startled Hyesung out of his train of thought. When he opened the door the sight of Eric took his breath away. He was wearing simply a white shirt and some black trousers but they fitted so well, and his hair was styled up and he was holding a bouquet of flowers.   
“Good evening.” He smiled, kissed Hyesung and handed him the flowers. Hyesung giggled and just like that all his doubting thoughts were gone.   
“Wow, I can’t believe you bought me flowers.” He grinned at Eric’s sheepish expression. “They’re beautiful.” And he kissed him again.   
“Like you.” Eric said and Hyesung laughed and pushed playfully at him. He couldn’t deal with the cheesiness and Eric burst into giggles too. Hyesung felt like a child, but he felt happy and safe with Eric.   
The date was the most whirlwind fun and romantic time of their lives although to anyone else it wouldn’t seem particularly extraordinary. However, just them being together, anywhere, changed everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well it's finished! Thank you to everyone who read it and left me feedback and everything, I quite enjoyed writing this although Eric announcing his relationship, getting engaged and getting married all AFTER I started writing this threw me a bit (don't get me wrong, I am the absolute happiest for him!) but I was worried a lot of people might abandon reading Ricsyung fics but many people kept reading which made writing all worthwhile. Thank you again!


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